Canada can successfully navigate President Donald Trump's call for NATO allies to secure the Strait of Hormuz without getting drawn into the war, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned in an interview with The Financial Times newspaper that it "will be very bad" for the future of NATO if alliance members fail to help secure the strait.
The strait is a strategic choke point, and Iran is using military attacks and threats to hold up global energy shipments through the vital waterway.
"The question of the White House's overture to NATO members and participation in the Strait of Hormuz is something that all NATO members are examining," McGuinty told reporters Monday at an unrelated press conference.
"We've always managed to find a way to manage our relationship with the United States, and we will manage our way through this as well."
Prime Minister Mark Carney and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed during a meeting in London on Monday that safe passage must be restored through the strait.
Ottawa is ruling out "engaging offensively" in any capacity in America's war with Iran, McGuinty added, though the government remains open to providing "assistance" to Middle Eastern countries which call on Canada for help.
"There has been no formal ask of Canada with respect to playing a deliberate … offensive role in the prosecution of this war," McGuinty said.
"We're leaving the door open to be, I think, of assistance to any neighbouring states that might require such assistance, but we will not be engaging offensively in this war."
Citing "operational reasons," McGuinty would not say what kind of assistance Canada would consider.
The head of a Canadian defence think tank said there's "not much" Canada could do in the Persian Gulf region to protect the strait, even if it wanted to.
David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the Canadian Armed Forces does not have equipment suited to intercepting Iranian missiles and drones and it's not clear how much it could contribute to mine-sweeping efforts.
"I don't really think Canada's got a ton to offer right now. Problematically, there's not a lot of people that do, which probably would be a good reason to think very carefully about what the Israelis and Americans are launching here in the first instance," Perry said.
"We are still in the process of trying to field a very limited capability in Latvia to deal with this. The rest of the Canadian military really does not have significant defence against this."
With hostilities raging elsewhere in the Middle East, Canada joined European peers in calling on Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate and make "meaningful engagement" in political talks.
The UN said nearly 700,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by hostilities that started after the Iran war. Israel and Hezbollah blame each other for the fighting.
Israeli and American officials have talked publicly about Israel taking control of a wider swath of the Middle East, such as through a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon.
In a joint statement with France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. — but not with G7 peers Washington and Japan — Canada called out Hezbollah and Israel over attacks on civilians and United Nations forces.
"A significant Israeli ground offensive would have devastating humanitarian consequences and could lead to a protracted conflict. It must be averted," the group added.
